Saturday, 19 December 2015

One of the most enjoyable parts of what we do here apart from guiding individuals (and all animals) towards better health both physically and mentally through diet and positive activities that suit each individuals chemical balance, as well as give the correct form of stimulation for mental contentment, is to allow the individual to speak through us with regards what they, as an individual, would like to do or what type of an owner they would like to have if they had to be moved on or sold on.

Sadly many, individuals/animals, are not given this chance or instead are dictated by humans as to what they should do, or perhaps more to the point, what they want to do themselves without giving the animal /individual their own choice or a ' Voice of their own!'

When it comes to animals or ones that are commonly kept as a pet or competitive pet, or indeed a working pet/animal - such as dogs, horses, elephants, pigs and many more, many are trained in different ways (some cruel, some not so cruel and of course the other way where 50/50 communication comes in or partly comes in). But why do animals have to be trained at all? perhaps because ;

The human enjoys certain sports involving specific animals

The humans job is made easier using an animal as a working partner

The human thinks the animal looks the part for specific competitions

The human wants to keep up with other humans, or as the commonly used phrase says ' They want to keep up with the Jones's!'

The human needs what ever animal to work for them for financial gain, no matter the state of health both physically or mentally - Take Kabu the elephant who was crippled at an early age but still used for logging. or Raju, the bull elephant who was used as a street beggar tied and chained with spurs and regularly beaten in the process similar to that of Sunder the Temple elephant who was beaten when his owner felt like beating him!

Or they want a specific type of cat, but because it may, as an example, be a quality type or an expensive one, it may rarely be allowed to go outside, or is kept as a house cat only. Of course there are some cats who prefer to be inside - but given their choice in the wild, they would be out hunting, playing or just playing with others of their own species - or perhaps tormenting the neighbours caged rabbit but coming back for attention from its' own sort in its' own time not necessarily when other animals (a.k.a. Humans!) dictate it should get attention.

For whatever reason, sadly, often animals have to be moved on, and there are a thousand reasons why, apart from it being only a human decision it happens, and this moving on process is unlikely to change for as long as humans are in existence. Often, although definitely not often enough, owners want to try and do his/her best by the animal and wants them to go somewhere suitable where it wont just be regularly moved on from pillar to post and this is where we are asked to step in to find out from the animal what kind of an environment or people or other animals they would like to be surrounded by if they are moved on. But, as mentioned before, sadly not enough animals are given this choice because humans want to make a financial profit (in steps human greed yet again!). But for those who are given the choice the results are amazing and usually, a long term, forever caring, home is found, unless human physical or mental health poses a problem.

So back to this beautiful horse who has such a kind eye. Like most horses when first born, they are loved and fed well, then the human intervenes and, in this instance she was trained to race, which sometimes can not be that easy for the horse depending on the trainer(s) of course. Later on she was then discovered by a lady who found her malnourished to the point that she was of no use and her future did not look rosy, but after some persuading the lady convinced the owner to sell her after which time she was fed, cared for, loved and eventually ridden but ill health prevented this lady from keeping her so she was determined to find her a similar caring home, which she did. But a year later, the young lady who rode her left school, went to college, as many do, and managed to get a placement in a yard hundreds of miles away but sadly she could not take this beautiful mare with her because the owner of the yard only accepted Warm bloods and not thoroughbreds! so with this in mind another home is needed for this beautiful girl.

The main questions asked was what kind of riding did she want to do, was it racing, hunting eventing, jumping, dressage, general hacking out or another and her favoured one was . . . . . Dressage and then Show jumping if she had to, but dressage was her favoured option. The next question, did she want to go to a male or female owner and it was the latter she chose but she also gave us the rough age and colour of hair she wanted her future female owner to have. Interestingly enough, her present owner had said that she had been told there had been a blonde haired lady who had been negatively involved with her which could explain why she wanted a darker haired lady as a future owner. One of the other questions was did she want to be with other horses, her answer; just two or three but no more. These answers gave her present owner guidelines to go by and she has assured us that this little beautiful creature will find a home suitable no matter how long it takes, so with that we reassured the Mare that everything will be okay.

Often when an animal has to be moved on for a reason such as this the owner can carry a feeling of guilt which indeed was the case here, they also felt that with College the horse had not been exercised as much as they felt it should have been but in this particular instance, and because of this horses past, she needed to have a few months off to grow, to put her negative thoughts and fears aside and to realise that, actually, she wasn't going to be pushed every day to her limit, which had clearly happened at some stage in her past. Still being fed, watered, nourished with care and being considerately ridden occasionally was fine by her and indeed ten times more pleasant than some of the things she had experienced in the past. Having relayed this information to her present owner, she understood and that awful feeling of guilt reduced dramatically.

Our over all opinion of having any animal is that it is a shame that when people take them on they can't give them that long term feeling of mental and physical security, because sometimes having many moves / owners the animal can suffer from Behavioural and Mental issues, some of which can be troublesome for others to sort out. In view of this we would ask everyone to seriously think whether they do have the time, or the long term commitment to take an animal on, or if it's going to be awkward why not see if someone else can share the animal with you, so that if you do have to move on then at least, for the animals benefit, they could be continued to be looked after by a 'known person'

On behalf of all the animals who have been re-homed but who were never given their choice of what type of a life they would like to lead perhaps from here on in, you will give your animal this option, Thank you.

Monday, 7 December 2015

Sunder's new chapter of his book of life continues. . . . living the life of an elephant, well almost, just as an elephant should.Our original post on Sunder dated 28th December 2013 which was a few months after we had been asked to scan him. Sunder not only touched our hearts but millions of others, and it is thanks to all the support he received from everyone and of course Save All Elephants, PETA India, Carol Buckley and many others that he is where he is now. He has moved the hearts of many and through his story other elephants voices have been heard. For us to see him now, after scanning him then . . .

is truly wonderful. He put up with so much unnecessary abuse for far too long, although sadly not as long as many others who are still being abused.

However to see this update on him now, and to see the care he is getting completely melts our hearts even further.

Sunder you are a fine Majestic King and we are so so sorry that the human race put you through such pain, upset, cruelty and fear. We know why you never fought back, and your patience or the way you held on to that thin, thin piece of thread for sanity deserves a massive medal and sheer acknowledgement.

Wednesday, 2 December 2015

How many times do you see someone in front of you with a stick, they rest it against a counter and then it slips on to the floor, you politely say ' I'll get it for you' but for those who are filled with pride, say ' No, it's okay I can manage' then before you know it, both the stick and the stick handler is on the floor the wrong way up!

This very clever elderly gentleman, once a keen walker, decided he was fed up of his stick always falling and his pride being dented to boot that he went in to a wee shop to ask if they could sew on an inch and a half piece of braid on to his jacket. This piece of braid then become a home for his faithful stick when it wasn't in use - an absolutely ingenious idea, and one that we thought we would share with you all.

Once a person gets used to hooking it on, it becomes automatic and their faithful stick will never slip away again.

So, the method in this tale is easy, find a piece of braid, sew it on to the opposite side of the hand the Stick user uses and their stick will always be within easy reach.

Because of this great invention we are going to call it the 'Raymond Stick' .